Mature words from Bentaleb.
Still feels a shame that it didn't work out for him with us.
Schalke’s Nabil Bentaleb: ‘I would be a hypocrite to say that I would not like to be at Tottenham’
Remember back to the first season of the Mauricio Pochettino era at
Tottenham Hotspur. Pochettino had to decide which of these players would be part of his future, and who would not. Emmanuel Adebayor, Paulinho, Aaron Lennon and Etienne Capoue were swiftly moved to one side, while a new generation took over. Eric Dier, Harry Kane, Christian Eriksen and Danny Rose are still part of the Spurs team. But one of the most promising 20-year-olds of that side is now far away from north London.
Nabil Bentaleb was once the future of Spurs’ midfield but is now playing in Germany for
Schalke 04. He has shone there and this week he will face Emirates Marketing Project – including former Spurs team-mate Kyle Walker – in the
Champions League last-16 in Gelsenkirchen.
“It will be an unbelievable game for us to play,” Bentaleb tells
The Independent. “I am not living in a dream world, I know it is going to be very tough, We know that they are much better than us on paper. But we are there to perform and at the end of the day, in football anything can happen.”
Bentaleb had been an important player in that first Pochettino season, building on the trust that Tim Sherwood showed in him, starting 25 Premier League games and forming a promising midfielder partnership when Ryan Mason. They were both frequently preferred to Mousa Dembele, who had not fully convinced Spurs of his reliability yet.
“Pochettino was one of the first ones who always believed in me,” Bentaleb looks back. “There were some players the club bought but he put me, a 19-year-old boy, in to play every game. He put a lot of trust in me.”
At that point it felt as if Bentaleb would be a fixture in the Spurs team for years to come, especially after he signed an improved contract in July 2015 to stave off interest from Liverpool.
But in Pochettino’s second season, Bentaleb lost his way. One ankle injury sustained in September kept him out for almost three months and by the time he got back, Dembele, Dier and new boy Dele Alli had taken over in midfield. Bentaleb was so desperate to get back into the team it had a bad impact on his attitude, and he found it hard to force his way back into his contention. He only made two league starts all season, both in August. He was loaned to Schalke in the summer and sold the following year.
Bentaleb now regrets his behaviour over that difficult season. “I was young and when I came back from injuries, I wanted to play,” he says. “I was so hungry to play straight away, and so frustrated when I didn’t play. I know that the coach was just doing this to protect me.”
When Bentaleb returned from ankle injury and could not get back in the team, things came to a head. “I got injured and when I came back, I wanted to play so bad that I had some arguments [with Pochettino]. I was a little bit frustrated, and I was learning basically. Being on the bench is a learning curve.”
Looking back now, Bentaleb accepts that he should have been more patient that year, that he should have understood Pochettino’s decisions. But he is not punishing himself with his regrets. “I know I made mistakes. But they helped me learn, as a man. And they don’t stop me from sleeping at night. And if I was 24 right now, and I had been at Tottenham, I don’t think I would make the same mistakes.”
So there is no sense of any bitterness towards Pochettino and his staff. In fact, Bentaleb speaks very warmly about the man who sold him. Just a few weeks about Bentaleb got in touch with Pochettino to catch up. “We spoke to each other for a bit, it was really nice,” he says.
“I knew he wanted the best for me. I respect him for sure, I have no problem with him. My desire to play was too much, and after that I was swerving away. Now, a couple of years later, I know why. I have a bit more maturity, I understand now. I understand what was best for me. And it was good for me, when I look back at it.”
Bentaleb still watches Spurs games and cheers them on. He is full of praise for the job that Pochettino has continued to do, saying that they have had an “unbelievable development”, starting from the steps they made when he was still there. Given how well Spurs have done, Bentaleb admits there is part of him that wishes he was still there. “I would be a hypocrite to say that I would not like to be there, and I am not a hypocrite. But this is football.”
Even if it ended prematurely, that spell at Spurs was still crucial in making Bentaleb the player he now is. “England gave me the chance. Where I am from, in France, no-one gave that to me. So I am forever grateful to Tottenham, the whole club, the administration. They gave me an opportunity to make my dream, to realise my dream. I grew up from 16 in England, and I left at 20. I spent a lot of time there, made lots of friends. I love that country, I love the football over there.”
